Student Spotlight: Tyne Freeman ’17

As a member of X.ado and the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble, Tyne Freeman ’17 has certainly demonstrated her passion for music and rhythm.

“I always say I started singing when I was born,” Freeman said, who joked that her doctor predicted her talent from her first cry at birth. Though she has never had any formal vocal training, Freeman learned her technique by emulating her music idols, including R&B singers Alicia Keys and India Arie as well as gospel jazz singer Kim Barrel.

Freeman’s favorite genres of music are jazz, instrumental, reggae and Brazilian.

“I feel like I’ve kind of combined a lot of things but inspiration comes from everywhere,” Freeman said.

Her talent for music led her to join different singing groups on campus. In addition to her involvement in X.ado, Freeman accompanies some songs during Barbary Coast performances with vocals.

Donald Glasgo, the ensemble’s director, said that as soon as he heard Freeman sing, he knew he wanted her to join the group, citing her “tremendous focus and poise” and her “flawless” intonation.

“Tyne was wonderful to work with: always prepared, on time and thoroughly professional,” he said. “It is unusual to find a first-year student with Tyne’s artistic experience, stage presence and maturity”

Before coming to Dartmouth, Freeman already had an impressive musical resume. She has attended GRAMMY Camp, a week-long intensive training experience for songwriting and taught herself the piano in the sixth grade. She later learned to play the violin and picked up the harp last year, using the instrument to accompany her performances at a local Italian restaurant.

Throughout high school, Freeman made YouTube videos from a recording studio she set up in her room. Last year, after some disappointments with the college application process, she decided to take a gap year. She interned at GMG Music School in Columbia, S.C., her hometown, where she taught and learned, having her first meaningful experience with music theory. While she was in Los Angeles producing a song for a makeup company, she met the Disney Channel’s Monique Coleman, and later had an informal concert with her. In addition, Freeman released a charity album on iTunes entitled “Erase My Shadow”. The proceeds of this album have supported the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in honor of a girl from her local community, Gabrielle Swainson, who went missing last August.

The album reflects Freemans’s interest in philanthropy and she said she hopes to one day work in social entrepreneurship. This interest has led her to join Women in Business and Mitosis. Freeman is also involved in the Christian Union at Dartmouth and its worship team.